38-To Camp or Not to Camp – Greenfield SP

Greenfield State Park is all about camping. The entire park seems to be filled with campground – there are over 250 spaces to choose from. By visiting in November, I had the park to myself, but it certainly must attract a crowd in the summer.There is also a modest beach area on the shore of Otter Lake split into three segments: Picnic Beach, Middle Beach, and Camper’s Beach. To my mind, this park would be considered over-developed, in that it is almost entirely given over to the camping facility and beach. Any serious hiking and wilderness “fix” would require one to leave the park, maybe visiting nearby Crotched Mountain. However, for a family, this might offer just what you want: camping, swimming, boating; they even have naturalist programs here in the summer.

A typical campsite … in November.

If I had to choose, I’d prefer Pawtuckaway State Park over Greenfield on the grounds that the camping is on the lake (all of the camp sites here are away from the lake) and that park itself has much more to offer. Be that as it may, Greenfield is located in a pretty town and is an excellent, if out of the way, base camp from which to explore this part of the state.

On the town green of Greenfield, less than a mile from the park.

Otter Lake

Although the park abuts just one end of Otter Lake, the lake still appears relatively undeveloped. That makes it far superior to Silver Lake State Park for example, whose lake is nearly surrounded by homes and other development. So although it’s not a park I’ll go out of my way to return to, it has its appeal. Happy travels!